Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

Forkin’

awesome

Suzuki RM Z450

The2018Suzukiisacompletelychanged

machineandtherehavebeensomeserious

improvements,includingareallyniceShowa

spring-cartridgeforkandatotaloverhaulofthe

seat/plastics/ergos that not only make the bike

oneofthebestlookinginthebunchbutalso

giveitaveryaggressivefeel.

Unfortunately,itneedsabitmorepowerin

thissnarlinggroupofMX1prizefighters.The

motorissmoothandtractablebutjustlacksthe

punch that the others have. The engineers have

been hard at work slimming the chassis to add

flexandfeelbutthathasn’ttranslatedtothe

handlingasthebikestillhasaslightlyrigid

feel to it.

Thisrigidityhasbenefitsoncertainpartsof

thetrack,allowingtheSuzukitobe

centimeter-perfect when you are aiming for a

specificline.Andtheyellowmachinewillstill

carveaninsidelinewithyoureyesclosed.

Theslightlyrigidfeelofthechassisisn’t

helpedgreatlybytheslightlystifffeelofthe

suspension.Sometimeneedstobeputinto

suspension tuning in order to soften up the

overallfeelofthebike.ThenewBFRC‘Balance

Free Resistance Chamber’ Showa shock held

upreallywellbutseemedtotakeawhileto

bedincomparedtotheothers.

Thebikedoesn’tdoanythingbadly,itjust

doesn’tshineinaparticularcategorysuchas

motor,suspensionorchassis.Withafew

tweakshereandthereyoucancertainlyturn

thisSuzukiintoatitlecontender.The

suspensioncomponentsareaterrificbaseto

work from and the motor is an easy one to

extractmoreponies!

WHERE I RANKED IT: 4TH

NOTABLE CHANGES:

• Basicallyeverythingfromtoptobottom


• NewcylinderheadandEFIthrottlebody


• Showa49mmspring-cartridgefork


• ShowaBFRCshock


• Redesignedplastics/ergoswithslimmerandlighterframe


• Blueforextraspeed


• Bigger,270mmfrontbrakerotor


• Plastictankinsteadofaluminium

KEY FEATURES:

• Achoiceofthreeignitioncouplers


• Blackanodisedrimsandtriple-clamps

2018 MX SHOOTOUT I 450CC BATTLE

54 | JANUARY 2018 http://www.adbmag.com.au